PART I.

Preliminary and General.

1. —This Act may be cited as the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1936.

2. —(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression “the Paris Convention” means the International Convention relating to the regulation of aerial navigation done at Paris on the 13th day of October, 1919, and includes any amendment to the said Convention which may be made under Article 34 thereof;

the expression “the Warsaw Convention” means the International Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air which was signed at Warsaw on the 12th day of October, 1929, and came into force in respect of Saorstát Eireann on the 19th day of December, 1935;

the expression “the Rome Convention” means the International Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to damage caused by aircraft to third parties on the surface which was signed at Rome on the 29th day of May, 1933, and includes any amendment to the said Convention to which Saorstát Eireann is a party;

the word “aircraft” includes all balloons, whether fixed or free, kites, gliders, airships and flying machines;

the word “airship” means an aircraft using gas lighter than air as a means of support, and having means of propulsion;

the word “balloon” means an aircraft using gas lighter than air as a means of support and having no means of propulsion;

the word “seaplane” includes a flying boat and any other aircraft designed to manœuvre on the waters;

the expression “State aircraft” means military aircraft and every aircraft exclusively employed in State services, including postal, customs, and police services;

the expression “Saorstát Eireann aircraft” means aircraft registered in Saorstát Eireann;

the expression “foreign aircraft” means aircraft which is registered in a country other than Saorstát Eireann;

the word “goods” includes mails and animals;

the word “aerodrome” means any definite and limited area (including water) intended to be used, either wholly or in part, for or in connection with the landing or departure of aircraft;

the word “land” includes land covered with water, any harbour, any part of the territorial waters of Saorstát Eireann, foreshore, any easement, water-right, fishing right or other of whatsoever kind right in over or in respect of land or water, but does not include land which belongs to Saorstát Eireann by virtue of Article 11 of the Constitution; the expression “policy of insurance” includes a covering note;

the expression “the Company” means the Company to be formed and registered under Part VIII of this Act;

the expression “subsidiary company” means an air transport company in which more than one half of the issued share capital thereof is held by the Company;

the expression “local authority” means a body which is—

(a) the council of a county or other borough, or

(b) the council of a county, or

(c) the council of an urban district;

the expressions “conservancy authority” and “harbour authority” have the same meanings respectively as in section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894;

the word “prescribed” where it occurs in Part II of this Act means prescribed by order made by the Executive Council under the said Part II;

the word “prescribed” (except in Part II of this Act) means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.

(2) References in this Act to any country or territory (including Saorstát Eireann) shall, unless the context otherwise requires be construed as including reference to the territorial waters (if any) adjacent to such country or territory.

3. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, this Act (except Part III thereof) shall not apply to any State aircraft.

(2) The Executive Council may by order direct that such provisions of this Act (except Part III thereof) or any order or regulations made thereunder as may be specified in such order shall, with or without modifications, apply to State aircraft, and whenever any such order is made and is in force, such of the said provisions as may be specified in such order shall, subject to such modifications (if any) as may be specified therein, have the force of law in Saorstát Eireann.

4. —Nothing in this Act or any order or regulation made thereunder shall prejudice or affect the rights, powers or privileges of any general or local lighthouse authority.

5. —(1) An order made by the Executive Council under this Act may be made applicable to any aircraft in or over Saorstát Eireann or to Saorstát Eireann aircraft wherever they may be.

(2) An order made by the Executive Council under this Act may authorise the Minister to make regulations for carrying out the purposes of such order in respect of such matters and things as may be specified in such order.

(3) An order made by the Executive Council under this Act may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Executive Council to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of such order.

(4) An order made by the Executive Council under this Act may provide that any breach or contravention of such order shall be an offence triable summarily and prescribe the punishments which may be inflicted by courts of summary jurisdiction on persons convicted by such courts of any such offence, but so that no such punishment shall exceed imprisonment for a term of six months or a fine of two hundred pounds or both such imprisonment and fine.

(5) The Executive Council may by order under this sub-section revoke or amend any order made by the Executive Council under this Act including an order made under this sub-section.

(6) Every order made by the Executive Council under this Act shall be laid before Dáil Eireann as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling such order is passed by Dáil Eireann within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which Dáil Eireann has sat after such order is so laid before Dáil Eireann, such order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.

6. —The Minister may by order make regulations in relation to—

(a) any matter or thing referred to in this Act (except Part II thereof) as prescribed;

(b) any matter or thing in respect of which the Minister is authorised, by an order made by the Executive Council under this Act, to make regulations for carrying out the purposes of such order;

(c) any matter or thing which the Minister is by this Act authorised to prescribe by regulations made under this Act.

7. —The following provisions shall have effect in relation to all fees payable under this Act, that is to say:—

(a) such fees shall be collected in money and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance may from time to time direct, and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance; and

(b) the Public Offices (Fees) Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of such fees.

8. —The Air Navigation Act, 1920, is hereby repealed.

9. —All expenses incurred by the Minister for Finance in the execution of this Act and all expenses so incurred by the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and the Minister, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, shall, if not otherwise provided for under this Act, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.